Finding sources and uses for alternative data can be difficult. At CloudQuant we regularly read and search the internet for new sources of data that can be used in our mission to find alpha signals and build quantitative trading strategies. We recognize that we are technology and data junkies so we wrote our own crawler that specifically seeks out web pages, posts, and news articles that give us a snapshot of what is going on in the world of Alt Data. The following is a collection of articles that we think you will find interesting from the past week.

CloudQuant Thoughts: We like SMA. Recently we used SMA to improve a breakout strategy. The following chart shows the effect that adding SMA data to a breakout trading strategy. It took a losing trading strategy and made it better. To see the source code for this trading strategy with SMA use this link.

The effect of adding SMA data to a trading strategy

Senator Warns of Fintech Privacy Risks

The Senate Banking Committee continued to examine Tuesday how to handle the regulation of fintech, as concerns persist about data aggregation and consumers’ privacy.

“I think it’s critical that the government move methodically on a regulatory approach to fintech so we encourage productive innovation but we don’t expose consumers to a lot of unnecessary risks,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., said duri…
2018-09-20 00:00:00 Read the full story.

The New Legal And Ethical Challenges Of Big Data

As data technology advances, the ethical challenges of big data increase and raise questions that society has never faced before.

Data is now one of our world’s most precious resources, and over the last few years, businesses have been learning how to use it to become more successful and profitable. Big data, a term that is used to refer to the use of analyzing large datasets to provide useful insights, isn’t just available to huge corporations with big budgets. Companies of all sizes are getting in on the action to improve their marketing, cut costs, and become more efficient. As a result, ethical challenges of big data have begun to surface.

Big data is useful in nearly any industry, but it has huge potential in the healthcare field to trim waste and improve the p…
2018-09-26 20:44:30+00:00 Read the full story.

CloudQuant Thoughts: Both the Senator’s concern on FINTECH data above and this article on Legal and Ethical challenges of Big Data create some of the same thoughts. The growth of Big Data has created the Mosaic Effect. (Google it, it is a thing.) This effect is simply the idea that as more data becomes accessible and machine-readable, there is the threat that disparate threads can be pieced together in a way that yields information that is supposed to be private.

What’s the Secret to Success as a Data Scientist?

The data science field is growing at a rapid pace, which is creating a huge need for additional data scientists to join the industry. But with so much competition, the question is, how do you stand out and become successful?

Understanding the Role of a Data Scientist

The term gets thrown out a lot, but what exactly is a data scientist? What do they do on a daily basis, and why are they in such high demand?

CloudQuant Thoughts: Even if you aren’t a full-time data scientists, you should be familiar with the analytical skills and tools they utilize to give insight into your business, and your areas of interest. After all, this posting is generated using those same tools.

Is The Data Ops Workbench A Thing?

Data ops, data engineering, data development — oh my!

From new roles and teams to new skills and processes, the hot topic on everyone’s mind is data ops. I started to notice the data ops emergence back in 2015 as companies began to look at Agile development to spin up new data capabilities rapidly. Later, as data preparation entered the market, ETL developers were gravitating to these tools for quick data loading with transparency into newly for…
2018-09-19 13:29:35+00:00 Read the full story.

CloudQuant Thoughts: We love this because it falls in line with everything we are doing. In short, you can sum this up by saying “Innovate or Die.”

CloudQuant Thoughts: We have our own API too. We call it Data Liberator.

Turkish Volatility Showed Value of Alt Data

In the middle of the summer vacation on Friday 10 August, Turkey’s lira plunged by one-fifth, leading to fears that the country’s crisis would spread to other markets. The US had suddenly imposed tariffs on Turkish steel in protest against the imprisonment of an American pastor, which added to investors’ existing concerns about President Tayyip Erdoğan taking increasing control over the Turkish economy. The steep jump in volatility highlighted …
2018-09-25 19:12:02+00:00 Read the full story.

CloudQuant Thoughts: Alternative data is being used both pre-trade and post-trade. Lot’s of good thoughts there!

Below the Fold

AlternativeData.org’s Briefing events provide investors with a sector-focused discussion of fundamental trends and insights from alternative data. Presenting data providers have been hand-picked and evaluated based on their unique insights and perspectives. These events do not include sales pitches or high-level dataset overviews.

Following an investigation from the Associated Press, Google has changed some information on one of their help pages which had not properly described how its “Location History” setting operates. The update clarifies that the operating system does still, in fact, track location even when users turn the setting off.

For example, the Associated Press investigation learned that even when you turn Location History off, Google will continue to store y…
2018-09-13 00:00:00 Read the full story.0.8058326937835764

Doctors Look To Data To Increase Patient Engagement

For many reasons, several of which we’ll discuss here, a patient’s full understanding of, and engagement with, their health care experiences are vital for a positive outcome. And today, we have more options than ever for achieving higher levels of interest, patient engagement, and “buy-in” from health care customers. These include data-rich wearables, telemedicine for housebound patients and electronic health records that follow us around as we s…
2018-09-24 22:14:23+00:00 Read the full story.0.7566706491437674

AI And Augmented Reality Merge For New Business Solutions

Big data continues to shape the corporate universe in unexpected ways, especially when AI and augmented reality come into play. A few years ago, most experts believed that big data would only be used to handle a few functions:

Using new data models to enhance marketing

Improving supply-chain logistics by collecting data on various points in the supply chain

4 Ways Wellness Can Cost Annuity Clients a Fortune

Here’s a look at how controlling 4 major types of health risk can add (expensive) years to an annuity buyer’s life… 3. (tie) Controlling High Blood Pressure: 3 extra years of life 3. (tie) Controlling Obesity: 3 extra years of life 2. Controlling High Cholesterol: 5 extra years of life 1. Ending Tobacco Use: 6 extra years of life Advertisement

Life and P&C Actuary Groups May Merge

The boards of the Society of Actuaries (SOA) and the Casualty Actuary Society (CAS) announced today that they are looking into the possibility of combining.

The boards could vote on a combination proposal as early as mid-November, and they could put the proposal to a vote in early 2019.

The combination proposal would address …
2018-09-26 00:00:00 Read the full story.0.31545741324921134

This news clip post is produced algorithmically based upon CloudQuant’s list of sites and focus items we find interesting. If you would like to add your blog or website to our search crawler, please email customer_success@cloudquant.com. We welcome all contributors.

This news clip and any CloudQuant comment is for information and illustrative purposes only. It is not, and should not be regarded as “investment advice” or as a “recommendation” regarding a course of action. This information is provided with the understanding that CloudQuant is not acting in a fiduciary or advisory capacity under any contract with you, or any applicable law or regulation. You are responsible to make your own independent decision with respect to any course of action based on the content of this post.

The thoughts and opinions on this site do not represent investment recommendations by CloudQuant or Kershner Trading Group. Securities, charts, illustrations and other information contained herein are provided to assist crowd researchers in their efforts to develop algorithmic trading strategies for backtesting on CloudQuant.